My high school English teacher, who passed away over 20 years ago, has been haunting me lately, like some spirit from "A Christmas Carol". I, myself, am not fussy about barbarisms, but he keeps leaning over my shoulder and whispering in my ear while I am trying to enjoy reading my fanfics. It seems that the mis-use of the word "reign" in fanfiction is bothering him a bit, and he can't rest until he attempts to put things right.

"Rain" are the little water droplets that fall from the sky.
"Reign" is what a ruler does over his subjects.
"Rein" is a strap that is attached to a horse's bit.

Thus, you "rain" down kisses upon your loved one. InuYasha and company are working to end Naraku's "reign" of terror, and Kagome is constantly struggling to "rein" in her emotions.

I have a hard time with these, myself. The only one that ever looks right to me is "rain".

the they're their and there is still my problem too. my fav sub is english but tht still gets me all confuzzled

My hubby seems to have trouble with "there", "their" and "they're".

There is an adverb meaning "that location."
Their is a possessive pronoun. It always describes a noun.
They're is a contraction of they are.

They're looking for something of theirs. I think it is over there.

That's the one that gets me the most, phish.

Your and you're bug the tar out of me when I see them misused.

Your is a possessive adjective.
You're is a contraction of you are.

You're giving me a headache. Please bring me your aspirin.

I caught myself making that "you're" mistake just the other day, MomoDesu. In the course of my latest (abortive) attempt at adding a new chapter to "Double Vision". I was proof-reading my own work, and was shocked at what I had done, but that just proves that those barbarisms are very sneaky little monsters! And spell-check does not catch them...

The ones that bug me the most are:

hear and here

and

bare and bear

Fortunately, I do not generally make these, though the bug the dickens out of me when I read them.

******************

hear - verb - to perceive or apprehend by the ear, to gain knowledge of by listening
here - noun - indicating a place

and

bare - adjective - unadorned, obsolete
bare - verb - to return something to its natural state
bear - noun - large aggressive mammal usually found in mountainous regions - also used as an attributive (bear-like)
bear - transitive verb - to give birth to or produce, to move while holding or supporting, to give as

"Do you hear what I am saying?" Sesshomaru said to the witless hanyou. "Bring the book over here."

Upon entering the room, Kagome noticed that it was completely bare.
"Bare yourself," Sesshomaru commanded the aroused woman.

Sesshomaru's father was a strong, bear of a man. As a leader, he was forced to bear witness to many disputes.

Not a barbarism, but something I see a lot in fanfiction: using the term "floor" when the action is taking place outside, or "ground" when the setting is inside a building. Except in the somewhat poetic reference to the ground in the forest being referred to as the "forest floor".

I was just unpleasantly reminded of one that makes me crazy... loose vs. lose


Loose is an adjective, the opposite of tight or contained.

My shoes are loose

I have a loose tooth

There's a dog running loose in the street

Lose is a verb that means to suffer the loss of, to miss.

I win! You lose!

Don't lose your keys

I never lose bets

Iz crazy-making, for sure!

~~Wiccan~~

I just came across another - to, too, two

Sesshomaru went to the house.

Inuyasha wanted to go too. (typically used as a form of "also.")

or used as emphasis - He was too tired of being chased by Sesshomaru.


Their father had two swords. (number)

I see to and too used almost interchangeably. It drives me a little nuts.

I'm not sure this counts, but it's sort of in the same vein and I tell you it makes me insane. I even have a rant about it on my profile. 0.o Mostly because it's so common and sooo sooo sooo wrong.
"
The word "kami"... I think we all probably know it, it's über common... and (technically) it means"god". Unfortunately it's not as widely known (or maybe people just don't care? *shrugs*) that this word does not mean "God" in the standard English and/or Jewish/Christian sense; saying "oh my Kami" is not the same thing as saying "oh my God"-- and the Japanese don't and wouldn't use the word that way.

It makes me nuts to see it so often... especially since it always seems to pop up in the best stories!

theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling

So far, many of those listed are also on the list. People do misspell them quite a lot. I've caught myself using the wrong word from time to time myself.

I just spent like an hour surfing that site, Smittee. I <3 Oatmeal ^.^

One barbarism that I see often, which drives me absolutely insane, is "its" and "it's."

"its" is a possessive pronoun. The dog ate its food.
"it's" is a contraction of either "it is" or "it has." It's (it is) the season to be jolly, or It's (it has) been a long time since we've seen each other."

Lonelylark wrote:
One barbarism that I see often, which drives me absolutely insane, is "its" and "it's."

"its" is a possessive pronoun. The dog ate its food.
"it's" is a contraction of either "it is" or "it has." It's (it is) the season to be jolly, or It's (it has) been a long time since we've seen each other."

Hm, I never even knew one could write it as "its". I honestly thought it always had to be written as "it's".

Interesting, I guess one can really learn something new everyday. I have nothing to add to this list though, since I have more than likely used all mentioned here(laughs).

PRVN wrote:
Lonelylark wrote:
One barbarism that I see often, which drives me absolutely insane, is "its" and "it's."

"its" is a possessive pronoun. The dog ate its food.
"it's" is a contraction of either "it is" or "it has." It's (it is) the season to be jolly, or It's (it has) been a long time since we've seen each other."

Hm, I never even knew one could write it as "its". I honestly thought it always had to be written as "it's".

Interesting, I guess one can really learn something new everyday. I have nothing to add to this list though, since I have more than likely used all mentioned here(laughs).

Yeah, I can understand why people have difficulty with "it's" and "its" sometimes, since for names and normal nouns you use the apostrophe+s (i.e. Emily's room, cat's fur). I just happen to have a love for grammar...that stems from my childhood o_0 Everyone always thought I was so weird.

Here is one I came across today, reading in another fandom: "for all intensive purposes" rather than "for all intents and purposes". It's not the first time I have encountered that expression messed up in fanfiction, it is more common that one would expect.

The one that really drives me crazy is the misspelling of "definitely." It's not "definately" or, even worse, "defiantly." You'd think people would realize the difference at least between "definitely" and "defiantly," but I tell you, it happens all of the time! They're two completely different words!

definitely - adverb. Positively; unequivocally; without doubt
defiantly - adjective. Boldy resisting or challenging